ARGON
As Brielle had said, I contacted Sir Derek to speak with him.
My father’s friend was glad to hear from me after all these years. He sounded jovial over the phone.
I was afraid at first that he’d speak harshly to me, knowing what is going on in mine and Brielle’s life currently, but he was just too kind.
“I already paid for the goods you made down, and I’ll be needing more batches. I have a large order and it can only work fine if you get those batches ready on time,” He said, discussing the business with me.
All I did was nod at his every words, humbling myself at someone whom I consider superior in the business world.
“Yes, sir. You don’t have to worry about anything,” I assured him, still nodding.
Then he said something that left me feeling ashamed of myself.
“Argon, I wouldn’t have given you this offer if not for Brielle. You are my late friend’s son. I have been following all the news about your affairs with that model, and all what I’ve been hearing only drew me further away from you, ” He said, expressing his feelings towards my situation.
I lowered my head down, silently listening to his words.
“If not for Brielle who contacted and begged me to save your reputation, I wouldn’t have intervened. She assured me that you’ll never disappoint my trust, and I can boldly believe her words because she’s a good woman,” He said, praising Brielle.
That got me staring at Brielle, who was close to the window staring out to nothing.
She is doing a lot for me and what did I l give to her when she needed my support?
Nothing but pains.
“I am speaking to you like a father, Argon. Make me proud and I’ll make your name go wild, okay?”
His voice sounding strong, reminding me of my late father.
With a curve to the side, I agreed to do as he wanted, promising to fulfill his demands.
“You can trust me on that.”
“Splendid,” He responded.
Before he ended the call, Sir Derek revealed his coming to Wolf crest tomorrow, suggesting Brielle and I pay him a visit at his company branch here in the pack.
“We can talk more about the order when you arrive.”
“No problem, sir. We’ll be there tomorrow.”
“Good. Have a nice day.”
“And you too,” I said.
He ended the call.
Lowering my phone down, I thought of all the opportunities that will come once I succeed in fulfilling Sir Derek’s wish.
“Everyone that left me will come running at my doorstep to partner with me again. They will all beg for my support, ” I viewed with pride, thinking of the future.
But all of this wouldn’t have been possible without Brielle. She’s the reason I have my company back.
I lifted my gaze at her and noticed she was talking to Jerome. My Beta had a lot of papers in his hold, in which she pointed at, telling him to stop.
“What’s going on?” I walked up to them to know what was happening.
When I stood next to Jerome and asked, he showed me the resignation letters belonging to my workers who had resigned before the arrival of the bank manager and his team.
“Calls came in from most of them. They wish to give us a second chance,” Jerome shared, talking about the staffs that abandoned us.
And when Brielle heard that, she stopped him from answering their requests.
“They are not welcome here anymore. Nobody forced them to resign so they can’t return,” She said.
I didn’t say anything but listened to Brielle, as she pointed out many reasons why we shouldn’t allow the staffs back.
“At this period, you can’t trust anyone. Who knows if they were sent by your enemies to come and ruin things for you, ” She pointed, so I’d take note.
“If they wish to join this company again, then they’ll have to go through a more challenging task to be qualified. Failure to meet up, then it’s Good bye,” she said, taking one of the letters from Jerome’s hands and going through it.
My Beta was blown by her authority. He looked at me, expecting to hear my response to this.
But what can I say?
Brielle is right.
“Keep all letters in a special folder. It would be used to identify those backstabbing staffs, ” She said, handing the letter back to Jerome.
My Beta nodded at her words, walking out of my office to keep the letters.
Once I was alone with Brielle, I faced this tough independent woman, who had her hands running through her hair with a sigh, leaving my face glowing with smiles.
I still can’t forget how she handled the situation like it was nothing.
Brielle of old was always afraid to be seen by all, even though she had no choice, but now she can boldly stand out and speak to anyone, no matter their status.
She’s just so amazing.
I was staring at her until her gaze fell on me. She gave me a frown and asked, “What?”
“Huh?” I uttered, snapping out of my thoughts.
“What are you looking at? ” She questioned, crossing her arms.
I wanted to lie to her, but it was kind of hard to do so with the way she was looking.
All I could do was smile and point at her suit, asking, ” This suit is from Chandler’s, right?”
Brielle lifted her brow at my question and took a look at herself. “Yeah, it is. I got it while coming down to the company. If I want everyone to believe my words, I need to dress smart,” She said, smirking at me.
I grinned, biting down on my lower lip. “Indeed, you look smart.” I had to admit it.
“Thank you, ” She appreciated with a bow.
Brielle’s behavior was beginning to attract me more and more. I wanted us to talk on, but she decided to head back to the mansion.
“I better move so I can get a taxi, ” She said, preparing to leave.
Quickly, I stopped her, “Wait!”
She looked at me, wondering what the problem was.
“Let me give you a ride back home, ” I offered.
On hearing my request, Brielle scoffed out in disbelief. “You want to give me a ride? You, Argon?” She pointed at me, laughing out loudly.
Her cackles were enough to tell me her thoughts towards my offer. She doesn’t believe me.
“I think I know my way home. You can stay here and attend to office matters, ” She said, about to leave.
But I didn’t let her.
With speed, I stood in Brielle’s way, blocking her path. Her eyes came large at my desperation to take her home. “I’m not joking around. Let me drop you off at the mansion, please,” I requested, sounding serious.
She stared in surprise, mellowing down before me.
I could understand why she’d doubt my words. It’s all about the past. It’s really affecting a lot of things presently.
“I’m… I’m not doing anything by the way. We can just head back to the mansion together. There’s no need for you to get a taxi, ” I said, showing her my car key.
I was patiently waiting to hear from Brielle. Her mood troubled my heart, causing me to think if she’d still reject the offer.
Instead, Brielle shrugged and agreed to join me in the car.
“Alright then, let’s go, ” She said, walking pass me.
I was pleased by her acceptance.
Quickly, I followed her from behind, until we were out of the company and inside the car.
I didn’t even bother to tell Jerome I was leaving. I’m sure he’d figure it out when he returns back to the office.
Together, Brielle and I left the company, heading back to the mansion.
The journey was a silent one. Brielle didn’t say anything but kept her gaze out the window.
I didn’t like the silence, so I chose to start up a conversation that would brighten the mood.
“How did you know I was talking to the bank manager yesterday?” I asked Brielle, moving into a much quicker and wider lane.
“I heard the news about the company going down the hills, and I thought I should see you. That’s when I heard you talking to the manager loudly,” She responded.
“Oh, I didn’t even know I was loud, ” I uttered, glancing at her then at the road.
“From what you said at the company, I realized you were watching my every move yesterday.”
“Yeah, I was. Since you and your beta didn’t know how to stay quiet, I had no choice but to listen to your conversations. At least, it helped in my plan, ” She chuckled, teasing me as well.
My face flushed at Brielle’s words. It brought a smile to my face.
Soon, we arrived at the mansion.
I carefully pulled up to the front of the building, so Brielle could easily step out.
Just as she was about to open the door…
“Listen,” She said, gaining my attention.
She didn’t look at me but faced the door. “I know you called us friends in public just to show everyone we’re on good page, but know this…”
She finally turned to face me, giving me a glare that shook my body. The smiles from before were gone.
“We are not friends. We are just two strangers that share the same father. As long as we’re working together to revive the company, we can keep up with the whole friendship stuff to fool everyone. But at home… We’re nothing,” She stamped, leaving a spark of guilt in my heart.
“I know you don’t really like it when people see us together. We both know that. Until this is over, just try to endure, ” She said, opening the door.
There was a pang within my chest after Brielle said all that to me. I wanted to speak, but she got out of the car and walked away, leaving me behind.
” Strangers?” I picked that word, feeling uncomfortable with it.
My hands grew tighter to the steering wheel, as I drove away from the mansion’s front and into the parking lot.
.
The following day, Brielle, Jerome, and I, went down to Sir Derek’s company.
When we got there, we were welcomed by his secretary, who invited us into the large building, escorting us to see Sir Derek’s.
“He’s busy with a client, but he still said you can come in, ” The secretary informed us, leading us to a lift.
We got in and patiently waited for the last floor. I was standing close to Brielle. She stood at my left hand side, looking straight ahead.
She didn’t even know that I’ve been stealing multiple glances at her, admiring her beauty and dressing.
She wore another black suit just like the one from yesterday. And just like the first, the suit brought out her dazzling side which has gotten me gawking at her since we left home.
She almost caught me staring at her, and I immediately pretended to be doing something else.
I can’t allow her to give me those angry eyes. They are creepy.
The lift soon came open to a wide floor having only three doors. One at the left, another at the right, and one door ahead of us.
And since we were walking towards the door in front, it was clear that door was Sir Derek’s office.
When we got there, the secretary knocked before stepping into the office to inform Sir Derek of our arrival.
Not up to a minute, she opened the door wide and invited us inside to meet the boss.
As soon as we stepped in, we were stunned by who we saw sitting before Sir Derek.
Damien!
He was also astonished to see us here.
“Welcome, welcome. So glad you could make it, ” Sir Derek said, welcoming us with delight.
I looked at my father’s friend and noticed how old he had gotten after all this while. He still had that strong face of his and his grin that never gets old.
Just when he was about to end his meeting with Damien, so he could attend to us, the grumpy Lycan got to his feet in anger and pointed at us, saying, “You can’t be serious! This is the man you said you hired for the job? He’s… He’s a nobody!”
As it turns out, Damien had heard about Sir Derek’s arrival and tried to use this opportunity to strike a larger deal with him. But my father’s friend had told him he already gave the job to someone he trusts. Still, Damien didn’t want to let go off the opportunity and kept on persuading Sir Derek to give the job to him.
“And I thought the person was someone of high standard. This man is useless.”
“Be quiet! ” I groaned, almost storming towards him. But Brielle placed her hand in my way, stopping me from acting.
I looked at her and noticed how she gazed at Damien with no expression, before facing Sir Derek’s point.
“Is he here for the same job as us? ” She asked the old business man.
Sir Derek nodded and told us his decision on Damien’s request. “But someone has refused to budge,” He said, directing his eyes on Damien.
This stubborn King scoffed at me and told Sir Derek about my past partners and clients, and how they all left because of my failure.
“He will only fail you, Sir. Hire me instead. This file contains all of my successful works with my clients. The review is enough to show that I can do this work better than this man, ” He said, trying to win the deal.
“Back off, Damien. You heard what he said. The deal has been given to me already. Why don’t you crawl back to that den you call a company and sit down?!” I fired back, getting on Damien’s nerves.
The matter would have turned into something else if Brielle hadn’t intervened immediately.
But her intervention was shocking.
“How about we do this instead, ” She said, coming up with a plan.
“We’ll both work on this order for our client here. The first person to complete his work and deliver on time, gets to keep the contract. What do you say, Sir?” Brielle suggested, asking Sir Derek.
This was outrageous! I didn’t find this idea appealing but troubling.
The incident with my last client was enough to leave me bothered, knowing well that this animal will want to try some nasty stunts again. He’s going to sabotage it like the last one.
And surprisingly, Sir Derek agreed with Brielle’s plan, finding it perfect.
“The person that delivers first gets to be my partner. May the best man win,” He finalized.
Damien scoffed with delight, bragging about having top notch workers from overseas and at his pack, who can make the order before the deadline.
This troubled my heart. I no longer have much workers to handle this work for me.
Damn! This is bad.